CCPR/C/116/D/1941/2010
1.
The author of the communication, dated 21 March 2010, is Vladimir Vasilievich
Neporozhnev, a national of the Russian Federation born in 1957, at the time of submission
serving a prison sentence in a State penitentiary in Novotroitsk, Russian Federation. He
claims to be a victim of violations by the Russian Federation of his rights under article 2 (1)
and (3) (a), (b) and (c), article 7, article 14 (1), (2), (3) (d), (e) and (g) and (5) and article 15
(2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Optional Protocol
entered into force for the Russian Federation on 1 October 1991. The author is not
represented be counsel.
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
In the morning of 11 September 2006, the author was detained by officers from the
Novogiresvo Regional Police Department and taken to the Bogorodskoe Department of
Internal Affairs in Moscow, following a complaint from a mother and a daughter, with
whom he was sharing a communal lodging, that he had insulted them, threatened to kill
them, attacked them and injured one of them with a knife. He was freed at around 8 p.m.,
but at 10 p.m. he was rearrested following a further complaint by one of his cohabitants. On
the way to the Bogorodskoe Department of Internal Affairs, the author was severely beaten
by several police officers, who also took 1,500 roubles from him. He was detained in the
basement of the police station until 8 a.m. the next morning, and throughout the night he
was subjected to beatings while being handcuffed to heavy weightlifting equipment. He
was hit with the butt of a Kalashnikov in the face and his jaw was broken. He was kicked in
the ribcage, which resulted in several fractured ribs. Officers also stepped on his throat to
cut off the air flow, which resulted in hematomas. At around 9 a.m., he was put in an
ambulance and taken to city hospital No. 1 in Moscow, where he received treatment. The
author states that these facts amount to a violation of his rights under article 7 of the
Covenant.
2.2
The author claims that he complained on numerous occasions to the prosecutorial
authorities and to the courts about the ill-treatment and torture he had suffered at the hands
of the police. Following his complaints, on 26 September 2006, a criminal investigation
against “unknown persons” was initiated under article 112, paragraph (2) (g), of the
Criminal Code. However, the investigation was terminated on 26 November. On 27
November, the Office of the Regional Prosecutor ordered the investigation to be reopened.
On 25 February 2007, the investigation was terminated for a second time, and for the
second time the Office of the Regional Prosecutor ordered that the investigation be
reopened. At the time of the submission, no one had been charged, prosecuted or convicted
for the ill-treatment and torture inflicted on the author.
2.3
On an unspecified date, the author complained to the Preobrazhensky Regional
Court about the lack of an investigation into his allegations of torture and ill-treatment. On
4 December 2007, the court decided that his complaint was unfounded, since an
investigation into “unknown persons” had been initiated by the Prosecutor’s Office, of
which the author was informed on 16 December 2006 and 25 January and 26 February
2007. On 27 December 2007, the author filed a cassation appeal with the Moscow City
Court against the Preobrazhensky Regional Court decision, which was rejected on 3 March
2008 on the ground that the Regional Court had complied with the law in reviewing his
complaint. The author filed a request for a supervisory review of the two decisions before
the Moscow City Court, but the request was also rejected, on similar grounds, on 3 June
2008.
2.4
On the basis of the allegations of his cohabitants, the author was charged with two
counts of insult, two counts of threat of murder and one count of intentional infliction of
light bodily injury on his cohabitant and her underage daughter. The author maintains that
the police officers fabricated the criminal case against him to cover up the beatings and the
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